The Justice for All expedition who are attempting Nanga Parbat this winter received 80 per cent of their money from crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding is the effort of individuals who network, usually via the Internet, to support a goal initiated by other people or organizations. The first time this occurred in America on a large scale was in 1884, when people donated $100,000 over six months to complete the Statue of Liberty. The most successful project to date is Star Citizen, a video game that raised $30,044,586.

Canadian ice climbing competitor Jen Olson used crowdfunding this year to raise money to compete at the World’s. She raised over $10,000, which is a lot of money, but shy of her ultimate goal of $30,000.

In the spring of 2013, six climbers from different backgrounds, with different challenges, and different experiences came together to raise money for an attempt on Mount Kilimajaro in January of 2014. The all-disabled ascent of Mt Kilimanjaro is a dream of lead guide Matt Walker and disabled athlete Ronnie Dickson. “Together, after supporting disabled athletes learn to rock climb, they shared a vision of supporting an all disabled athlete team to the summit of the tallest mountain in Africa,” says their crowdfunding site.

In June 2013, for the first time ever, an all-African American team of mountaineers set off to climb Denali. The expedition was crowdfunded and raised $111,000. After 19 days and at 6,000 metres, a lightning storm caused them to turn back.

In winter 2014, the Justice for All expedition is hoping to climb Nanga Parbat. They are joined at the mountain with one other expedition team and a soloist. This project is living its own life now. Can you imagine that 80 per cent of the funds for the expedition, we collected from crowd-funding? Polish winter himalaizm is our national thing; we are proud of it,” said Marek Klonowski of Justice for All. To see their blog and donate to the Justice for All trip, go here.

Will we seem more expeditions using crowdfunding, and if so, which expedition will people choose to support?